Cooking appliance for processing food

ABSTRACT

A cooking appliance for processing food, more specifically a cooking appliance of the type that include a body housing an electric motor, a shaft for actuating a processing tool, and an integral handle, the various processing tools being coupled to the body by means of an arm that comprises an implement, such as a grinding, whisking or mixing implement, where the operating control of the appliance (on, off, rotating speed of the implement, etc.) is carried out by means of a sensor system that can detect a characteristic or predetermined movement performed on the appliance and can interpret said movement as an operating instruction, for example, turning the implement on, turning it off, and establishing and controlling the rotating speed thereof, etc.

The present invention relates in general to a cooking appliance forprocessing food, more specifically to a cooking appliance of the typethat include a body housing an electric motor, a shaft for actuating aprocessing tool, and an integral handle, the various processing toolsbeing coupled to the body by means of an arm that comprises animplement, such as a grinding, whisking or mixing implement, where theoperating control of the appliance (on, off, rotating speed of theimplement, etc.) is carried out by means of a sensor system that candetect a characteristic or predetermined movement performed on theappliance and can interpret said movement as an operating instruction,for example, turning the implement on, turning it off, and establishingand controlling the rotating speed thereof, etc.

Arm blenders, for example, in which an electric motor actuates therotation of the blade of a blender arm that can be coupled to theblender to grind and mix food are well known in the prior art.Typically, the blender arm is controlled by a control element thatmanages the electrical power to operate the motor and adjust therotating speed. Conventionally, said appliances include buttons and/ordials for interaction with the user in order to adjust the operatingparameters of the motor, such that the user by pressing said buttonsand/or turning said dial turns on, selects the rotating speed and turnsoff the appliance; for safety reasons, it is usual that pressure must beexerted continuously on the start/stop buttons during the entireoperation.

A drawback of these known devices is that their operation requires theuser to use both hands, one to hold the appliance and press thestart/stop buttons and another to change the rotating speed of theimplement; the participation of another person or device may even benecessary in order to hold the container with the product to process.

To solve this drawback, document EP2334219, “Motor-powered kitchendevice having two push buttons for operation of the motor at alternativerotating speeds”, for example, describes a cooking appliance with anelectric motor for actuating a processing tool, the cooking appliancecomprising a first button that can be pressed down to operate the motorat a first rotating speed, said first button closing when pushed down afirst electric switch that operates the motor at a first rotating speed,and the cooking appliance also comprising a second button that can bepressed down to operate the motor at a second rotating speed, saidsecond button closing when pushed down a second electric switch tooperate the motor at a second rotating speed; where said motor can beoperated at the second rotating speed only when the first and secondswitch are both closed and where the first button presents a first dragarea in which a second drag area of the second button can act in orderto drag the first button when the second button is pushed down, that is,the buttons are joined functionally.

Similarly, international patent application WO2005008511, “Control dialand ejector button for hand-held appliance”, describes an arm blenderthat includes a control dial only partially exposed to the user thatallows turning on, turning off and changing the rotating speed with asingle finger while the appliance is held with the same hand.

However, the solutions provided by the aforementioned documents are notfully satisfactory, as they still require the user to act on pressureelements or dials that must be kept in specific actuation position byapplying some force with a finger or the hand, and the presence of thesepressure elements or dials hinder the cleaning of the appliance,particularly due to the dirt accumulated by these moving parts.

Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a cookingappliance for processing food, of the type that include a body housingan electric motor, a shaft for actuating a processing tool, and anintegral handle, the various processing tools being coupled to the bodyby means of an arm that comprises an implement such as a grinding,whisking or mixing implement, where the operating control of theappliance (on, off, implement rotating speed, etc.) is performed bymeans of a sensor control system that can detect a characteristic orpredetermined movement performed on the appliance and can interpret saidmovement as an operating instruction, for example, turning on theimplement, turning it off, and establishing and controlling the rotatingspeed thereof, etc.

For this purpose the appliance of the invention includes a controlsystem based on sensors that can respond to physical movement stimuli,such as inclination of the appliance or turning of the same to the leftor right, instead of traditional control means such as buttons or dials.Said sensor based control system, hereinafter referred to as the sensorcontrol system, includes acceleration and gyroscopic sensors thatcapture parameters of the device movement performed by the user,specifically changes in the acceleration time and angular velocity inthree spatial axes, and transmit this information to a microcontroller.The microcontroller records and saves the parameters obtained andcompares them to predetermined patterns previously established in themicrocontroller, checking if said parameters match the predeterminedparameters, in which case a motor control system associated with themicrocontroller makes the motor carry out the operations assigned to thepredetermined patterns, for example turning it on, increasing ordecreasing the rotating speed thereof, or turning it off.

Preferably, the microcontroller of the sensor system also filters theinformation obtained from the sensors, such as the acceleration andangular velocity, eliminating potential parasitic signals, due forexample to movements due the inertia of the appliance or involuntary orrandom movements, in order to obtain a filtered signal that can becompared to the predetermined patterns.

In one embodiment of the invention the information obtained from thesensors is only filtered when the user consciously determines to do so,such as by pressing a sensor reading activation button associated withthe microcontroller, so that the microcontroller will only compare theinformation values obtained to the predetermined parameters when thesemovements are performed intentionally and not due to involuntaryactions, so that the microcontroller will not send actuation commands tothe control of the associated motor unless the sensor reading isvoluntarily activated.

FIG. 1 shows the three spatial axes in which the aforementioned sensorsystem parametrises speed and angular velocity changes performed by theuser on the appliance of the invention.

FIG. 2A shows an example of the measurement signal for the rotatingspeed and acceleration parameters without filtering.

FIG. 2B shows the signal after it is filtered.

FIG. 3 shows a reading of the data gathered by the sensor system of theappliance indicating those that the microcontroller interprets as apattern in order to send the correct operation command to the motorcontrol system.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the operating limits for the inclination ofthe appliance.

In one embodiment of the invention the appliance, and specifically itssensor control system and its associated motor control system, alsogathers and parametrises the various inclination angles of the applianceduring the use thereof, so that the microcontroller identifies if theworking position is correct; in a specific example, if the appliance isin an essentially vertical position, in which case the microcontrollercommands the motor control system to change to operating status, or ifit deviates from this correct position by a number of degrees, such as+40° or −40° to the vertical, in which case the microcontroller informsthe motor control system to change to the stopped status, providingadditional safety in use.

For purposes of illustration and not limiting the invention, one exampleof embodiment is designed to provide five speed settings, in which theminimum speed corresponds to setting 1, such as 3,500 rpm, and themaximum speed corresponds to setting 5, such as 10,000 rpm.

When the start button is pushed for a short time, for example 1 second,accompanied by a gentle wrist motion, such as turning the appliance tothe left or the right while keeping it vertical, the gyroscopic sensorsand accelerometers provide to the micro-controller the correspondingacceleration and speed parameters and said microcontroller interpretsthe signal which when filtered and compared to a start-up pattern willsend the start-up command to the motor control system, turning on theimplement at for example a medium speed on setting 3.

Once started, a rotation of the wrist about a vertical axis, for exampleto the right, by some degrees, for example 15-20°, returning to theinitial position after a specific time, for example 1-2 seconds, will bedetected by the appliance sensor control and the corresponding datasignal will be sent to the microcomputer; when filtered this signal willbe compared to a predetermined pattern, such as a pattern for increasingthe rotating speed by one setting, such as “change from speed setting 3to speed setting 4”, and if the patterns match the microcontroller willsend a corresponding signal to the motor control system to increase thespeed.

In this case a rotation in the opposite direction, to the left about avertical axis, such as from 33° to 35°, returning to the initialposition in a time of 1-2 seconds, will be interpreted by themicrocontroller as a request to reduce the rotating speed, such as tospeed setting 2.

To stop the appliance the start/stop button is pressed or the applianceis inclined a certain angle to the vertical, such as+40° or −40°, whichwill be interpreted by the microcontroller as a danger situation or as astop command, so that the motor control system will issue thecorresponding stopping command. The angle to the vertical can bepredetermined as a stopping pattern in the microcontroller or beprogrammed as a stopping pattern by the user.

1. A cooking appliance for processing food, comprising: a body housingan electric motor, a shaft for actuating a processing tool, an integralhandle, an arm integrating an implement for coupling several processingtools to the body, a sensor control system based on gyroscopic andaccelerometer sensors that are configured to detect a characteristic orpredetermined movement performed on the appliance, a microcontrollerthat is configured to interpret said movement as an operatinginstruction, and a control system for the motor associated with themicrocontroller.
 2. The cooking appliance for processing food accordingto claim 1, wherein the microcontroller records and stores the movementdata obtained from the sensors and compares the movement data topredetermined patterns previously established in the microcontroller,and checks if parameters coincide with the predetermined patterns, inwhich case the control system of the motor associated with themicrocontroller makes the motor perform the operations assigned to thepredetermined patterns.
 3. The cooking appliance for processing foodaccording to claim 1, wherein the microcontroller also filters themovement data obtained from the sensors, eliminating potential parasiticdata such as those due to movements resulting from the inertia of theappliance or involuntary or random movements, in order to obtain afiltered signal for comparison with the predetermined pattern.
 4. Thecooking appliance for processing food according to claim 3,microcontroller filters the information obtained from the sensors whenthe user consciously determines, by pressing a sensor reading activationbutton associated with the microcontroller, so that the microcontrollerwill only compare the information values obtained to the predeterminedparameters when these movements are performed intentionally and not dueto involuntary actions, so that the microcontroller will not sendactuation commands to the control of the associated motor unless thesensor reading is voluntarily activated.
 5. The cooking appliance forprocessing food according to claim 1, wherein the microcontroller alsorecords various angles of inclination of the appliance during itsoperation.
 6. The cooking appliance for processing food according toclaim 5, wherein the maximum angles of deviation from a verticalposition for the microcontroller to start or stop operation are +40° or−40° with respect to vertical.
 7. The cooking appliance for processingfood according to claim 5, wherein the maximum angles of deviation froma vertical position for the microcontroller to start or stop operationare programmed by the user in said microcontroller.